Okay, before I talk about Heroes, I have a very serious complaint. NBC is apparently so excited about Heroes that they put off premiering Chuck, the most awesome show in existence, to air an hour long Heroes pre-premiere...thing. Maybe it was totally cool and awesome, but it couldn't possibly have been more awesome than Chuck. Admittedly, I didn't watch it because Terminator: The River is Really Freaking Hot Chronicles wins that competition hands down. Also, Big Bang Theory had a very funny premiere as well. I think it was the funniest episode of that show that I've ever seen (How I Met Your Mother...much less so). But, that's not relevant. The only thing that's clear is that NBC doesn't love me enough. But, well, I get my Chuck fix next week, so that'll have to do.
So, Heroes, season three. First off, I was very fortunate and got to re-watch the majority of season two yesterday (in HD, I might add). Some random channel was playing it and I realized that I basically didn't remember anything that happened, so it seemed like a good idea (and it was). I was pleasantly surprised by it, to be honest. It wasn't as bad as I remembered it (high praise, right there). So, yeah, I felt pretty prepared going into season three.
My thoughts: tentatively excited. From a focus perspective, they still can't really compare to the awesomeness of showing us exactly what everyone is going to have to come together to stop (the bomb exploding in season 1, is what I'm talking about, by the way). It's kind of weird to have everyone doing stuff, but with no purpose at all. I appreciate that they've created more bad guys (and established that they're bad guys, too). Although, they don't really seem all that dangerous yet. I mean, Peter or Sylar could kick their asses backwards and forwards if they so desired.
Anyways, a list of my thoughts, in no particular order.
Future Peter is back to having a scar, I guess that's to help us keep track of which is which (considering that one looks like a scary biker dude right now, it shouldn't be that hard). Disappointingly, future Peter is sticking with the short hair. Also, what ridiculous power did future Peter use to trap Peter inside the dude's body? And, if Peter's in that body, where is the body's former resident? Is he dead? Will he come back once Peter is able to go back to looking like himself? I dunno, but important questions all the same.
Also, why is future Peter still around? He really needs to go back to his own time. He's really annoying. I love the cool Peter, not the depressed and meddling future Peter. Also, on an unrelated note, how does it make sense at all that Angela Petrelli can see the future with her dreams? She says that Peter's first power was dreams that he got from her. But that's a lie. Straight up. He got his dreaming power from that De Veaux dude (who was awesome). He's never seen into the future with his dreams (except maybe when seeing Christopher Eccleston's character). He just has those insightful dreams that impart a lesson, nothing like Angela's dream where she sees the villain's attack on Level 5.
Let's see, I guess I can't help feeling bad for Claire. I mean, Sylar finally got her. In her home. Just waltzed right in and cut open her head. That sucks. How did he find her? How did he get there so fast? Does the Heroes timeline make any sense at all? I can only surmise that he got his telekinesis back at the end of season two and the following day, he was chasing Claire down in her own home. Would he have known where she was from Suresh's place, somehow? Maybe? I don't know. It's pretty lame in either case.
Humm, I feel bad for Elle, but I admit I was really ready for Bob to finally bite it. I hope Elle doesn't become a bad guy, she's fun. And cute.
Also, Matt is hanging out in Africa with a dude who paints just like Isaac Mendes, only on rocks in the Sahara and warehouse walls in the New York docks. I think it's safe to call that random (and how many future painters do we really need, eh?). Considering that we've apparently got a clairevoyant and a version of Peter Petrelli from the future as well as Hiro, I think there's enough people who are supposed to know what the future is at this point (not to mention that Sylar and Peter are also future painters). Also, I'm still waiting for that image of the world splitting into two to take meaning beyond simply being the end of the world (Kaito did a better job describing it with the dark and the light than that image, and I didn't understand any of it).
Claire wants to join her dad in the hunt for the bad guys. I honestly have no idea why he didn't agree. I mean, she's basically immortal for goodness sake. That's useful. Instead, he's going to try to lock her up with her real mother, under threat of fire. I'm just going to assume she finds a way to get into plenty of trouble trying to join up with her dad.
Let's see, Nathan Petrelli's in an unusual situation. He's being visited by an imaginary(?) Linderman. I like Linderman so it's cool to see him back, but I'm really ready for Nathan to die (I swear, every season ends with me thinking he's finally done for). But, whatever. I guess him and "Tracy" are going to have fun together. I don't really know what he's up to, so his arc is definitely going to be very wait-and-see. I'm reserving judgement on Tracy as well, but she would be another example of someone who I thought was done (Ali Larter is actually what I'm referring to, being dead and all from either the virus or the building explosion should mean that the actress doesn't have to return). Instead, she's back, most likely as some secret clone or something of Nikki. Yeah, no matter where they go with her character it's going to be ridiculous, but that's life. Also, I'm annoyed we never got to check in on Micah or his cousin (okay, primarily his cousing). They better not be gone, because that would just be cruel (they show Ali Larter dying, but then the cool characters from that subplot get eliminated instead).
And then there's Suresh. Who never ceases to amaze me. I really don't like him. At least his stupidity is finally getting him in trouble (okay, fine it's always getting him in trouble, you're right). Now he finally actually has motivated to figure out a safe way to take away someone's powers. Hope he hurries. Also, Maya is apparently really easy (and pretty). I mean, I can kind of see her falling for Sylar when he's laying on the charm and spending time with her, but Mohinder? Really? C'mon. In the space of knowing him for...two days max. Also, why isn't Suresh back to trying to get the cure for the virus down to New Orleans to save Nikki, or does he just know that she's dead and it won't be a problem anymore? Or is he out of the cure and needs more of Claire's blood?
Moving on, Hiro is still Hiro (I hope he never changes). I hope he regains his faith in Ando soon, though, because I kind of feel bad for Ando. Also, the super fast girl is totally the babe from Jericho. That's kind of awesome and I'm glad she found new work. Although, I'm not totally into that short hair. She looked better in Jericho, but I'm still excited to see her (and now how many cute blond Heroes are there? I'm coming up with at least three right off the bat...not that I'm complaining).
Well, so in summary, I've got high hopes for this season. I think season two taught them some important lessons. I'm not convinced they really learned them, but I think it's safe to say that no season of Heroes is going to be as good as season one. It's just not really possible. Not that season one was a fluke, but everything that made season one good can't really be repeated, and so this is what we get instead. It's not bad and in fact it's got potential. But, it's just not amazing. In any case, I'll watch it. And enjoy it.
That is all.
Francis
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Terminator's Back: Or, River, You Still Have My Heart
Well, the Fall TV season has officially begun with Terminator: The River is Really Freaking Hot Chronicles back and pretty much amazing. It'll continue with Fringe tomorrow, of course, but first I have to talk about Terminator. Or, rather, I have to talk about River. And how hot she is.
Oh, River, how I missed you so.
Anyways, things start off with a bang. Well, I guess they finished last season with a bang, but since this season starts off from that same point, I guess it's still accurate to say that. And, well, the first thing I noticed was that apparently River is fire resistant. Yes, that's right, a car bomb goes off, with her in it, and the only damage she suffers is from the glass and metal flying from the explosion. I mean, I don't really mind since if she got all burned and disfigured and stuff, well, she might not be quite as hot, so I promise not to complain about this again (there's plenty of other things for me to complain about...and complain I will, no doubt about it).
So, the first thing I liked about this episode was that they didn't actually show the most traumatic thing that John went through that day (okay, he went through a couple traumatic things that day, so I can't say for certain that this was the most traumatic thing he did). I mean, knowing most TV, they'll wait a couple episodes and then show us what happened, just because they don't want people to get confused, but I really liked the decision in this episode not to show it.
John killed a man. A human. A human that wanted to kill him and his mom. I'm not sure he knew any more about the man than his last name.
I like that this decision not to show us what happened follows John's own unwillingness to talk about what happened (once again, reinforcing my position that Sarah Connor is not the main character in this show). John won't face it and neither will the audience.
The rest of the episode was dedicated to the obligatory sub-plot where River turns evil and tries to hunt down/kill John. Personally, we all knew this would happen sometime and I'm glad they only spent an episode on it. It was still fun watching River play and extra cold hard bitch, though. And to watch her hurt Sarah, that was fun too (I think I might be a bad person).
But, the best part of River's bad guy phase was her death. Yeah, that was awesome. She suddenly turns into the River that was naive and almost human and is capable of slowly seducing poor John (or, lucky John, depending on your position). We get to hear her beg for her life. I've never heard a terminator beg for its life. It was touching. Pleading that she's better now, that's she's not going to kill him. And then, when all else fails, she exclaims that she loves him...and that he loves her.
I smiled. The look in John's eyes. He wants to believe it's true, but at the same time, this is the first proof that she's not the Cameron that he has a crush on. That Cameron would never say such a thing. She's been programmed not to. By John.
But, here's where we get to play. What does it mean that she thinks this will sway John? Terminators don't really understand feelings, so why does she think it'll help? In almost any situation, this is a huge gamble on her part (and considering that it backfired, clearly it was a mistake). But, she thought it would work. She was using all the knowledge she had to try to influence John Connor into sparing her life. I can't help but think that her experience with future John made her think that this might work. Man, I want to know just what her experience with future John was...
Let's see, they also introduced Shirley Manson as our new over-arching bad guy. I'm not sure how I feel about her. I mean, she has very red hair, which adds some variety to the show, to say the least. She's also got a pretty ridiculous accent, so that's worth points, maybe, I think. In any case, at this point the jury's still out on her.
Oh, I guess I should talk about Sarah at some point, huh? So, yeah, my thoughts about her haven't really changed. I still don't really like her because she just doesn't kick enough ass. That really needs to change. All she ever does is react and it still feels like that's all she ever wants to do. That's the opposite of what Sarah Connor is all about. She's supposed to care about changing the future, not protecting it. But, well, I guess she has all season to get better. Too bad she probably won't.
Lastly, I just want to say that John Connor does just about the stupidest thing imaginable at the end of this episode. It's so stupid he really, truly deserves to get shot in the face. I mean it, seriously. River should just shoot him and say, something along the lines of, that was for your own good, because you're too stupid to lead the human race against the machines in the coming war. John has already gained experience hooking up the Terminators to computers and getting information off them. I feel like it shouldn't be too hard to find out what her prime directive is, you know, without putting a gun in her hand and hoping that you've cleaned the chip enough.
In any case, I hope we don't have to deal with too many more "River turns bad" episodes. But, well, this was a good start. It was definitely a fun episode. Depressingly, the ads for the rest of the season look, um, kind of bad. Apparently John is going to get a girlfriend? WTF? Seriously, that's just stupid (and it's just an excuse to add a blonde to the cast for a little while). And Sarah's ex-fiancee's wife is going to get kidnapped? I mean, come on. Shirley Manson better find out that John's playing around in her time period soon, because things are going to be kind of boring until she does. Also, I'm still waiting for that FBI agent to get around to joining their cause. That would be nice.
Well, I'm still satisfied and it looks like it'll be a fun show. Too bad once Chuck starts up in the same time slot in a few weeks, I'll have to just record Terminator and watch it later, but well, let's be honest here. Not even River is hot enough to make me not watch Chuck as religiously as possible.
That is all.
Francis
Oh, River, how I missed you so.
Anyways, things start off with a bang. Well, I guess they finished last season with a bang, but since this season starts off from that same point, I guess it's still accurate to say that. And, well, the first thing I noticed was that apparently River is fire resistant. Yes, that's right, a car bomb goes off, with her in it, and the only damage she suffers is from the glass and metal flying from the explosion. I mean, I don't really mind since if she got all burned and disfigured and stuff, well, she might not be quite as hot, so I promise not to complain about this again (there's plenty of other things for me to complain about...and complain I will, no doubt about it).
So, the first thing I liked about this episode was that they didn't actually show the most traumatic thing that John went through that day (okay, he went through a couple traumatic things that day, so I can't say for certain that this was the most traumatic thing he did). I mean, knowing most TV, they'll wait a couple episodes and then show us what happened, just because they don't want people to get confused, but I really liked the decision in this episode not to show it.
John killed a man. A human. A human that wanted to kill him and his mom. I'm not sure he knew any more about the man than his last name.
I like that this decision not to show us what happened follows John's own unwillingness to talk about what happened (once again, reinforcing my position that Sarah Connor is not the main character in this show). John won't face it and neither will the audience.
The rest of the episode was dedicated to the obligatory sub-plot where River turns evil and tries to hunt down/kill John. Personally, we all knew this would happen sometime and I'm glad they only spent an episode on it. It was still fun watching River play and extra cold hard bitch, though. And to watch her hurt Sarah, that was fun too (I think I might be a bad person).
But, the best part of River's bad guy phase was her death. Yeah, that was awesome. She suddenly turns into the River that was naive and almost human and is capable of slowly seducing poor John (or, lucky John, depending on your position). We get to hear her beg for her life. I've never heard a terminator beg for its life. It was touching. Pleading that she's better now, that's she's not going to kill him. And then, when all else fails, she exclaims that she loves him...and that he loves her.
I smiled. The look in John's eyes. He wants to believe it's true, but at the same time, this is the first proof that she's not the Cameron that he has a crush on. That Cameron would never say such a thing. She's been programmed not to. By John.
But, here's where we get to play. What does it mean that she thinks this will sway John? Terminators don't really understand feelings, so why does she think it'll help? In almost any situation, this is a huge gamble on her part (and considering that it backfired, clearly it was a mistake). But, she thought it would work. She was using all the knowledge she had to try to influence John Connor into sparing her life. I can't help but think that her experience with future John made her think that this might work. Man, I want to know just what her experience with future John was...
Let's see, they also introduced Shirley Manson as our new over-arching bad guy. I'm not sure how I feel about her. I mean, she has very red hair, which adds some variety to the show, to say the least. She's also got a pretty ridiculous accent, so that's worth points, maybe, I think. In any case, at this point the jury's still out on her.
Oh, I guess I should talk about Sarah at some point, huh? So, yeah, my thoughts about her haven't really changed. I still don't really like her because she just doesn't kick enough ass. That really needs to change. All she ever does is react and it still feels like that's all she ever wants to do. That's the opposite of what Sarah Connor is all about. She's supposed to care about changing the future, not protecting it. But, well, I guess she has all season to get better. Too bad she probably won't.
Lastly, I just want to say that John Connor does just about the stupidest thing imaginable at the end of this episode. It's so stupid he really, truly deserves to get shot in the face. I mean it, seriously. River should just shoot him and say, something along the lines of, that was for your own good, because you're too stupid to lead the human race against the machines in the coming war. John has already gained experience hooking up the Terminators to computers and getting information off them. I feel like it shouldn't be too hard to find out what her prime directive is, you know, without putting a gun in her hand and hoping that you've cleaned the chip enough.
In any case, I hope we don't have to deal with too many more "River turns bad" episodes. But, well, this was a good start. It was definitely a fun episode. Depressingly, the ads for the rest of the season look, um, kind of bad. Apparently John is going to get a girlfriend? WTF? Seriously, that's just stupid (and it's just an excuse to add a blonde to the cast for a little while). And Sarah's ex-fiancee's wife is going to get kidnapped? I mean, come on. Shirley Manson better find out that John's playing around in her time period soon, because things are going to be kind of boring until she does. Also, I'm still waiting for that FBI agent to get around to joining their cause. That would be nice.
Well, I'm still satisfied and it looks like it'll be a fun show. Too bad once Chuck starts up in the same time slot in a few weeks, I'll have to just record Terminator and watch it later, but well, let's be honest here. Not even River is hot enough to make me not watch Chuck as religiously as possible.
That is all.
Francis
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
E3 Thoughts
So, E3 came along a little while ago. I can distinctly remember a time when this mattered. I also remember that it was in May and I literally stopped going to classes so that I could keep up with all the crazy upcoming video game videos being released every couple minutes. I remember how important each of the Big 3's press conferences were and how each one had to be more awesome and more full of exciting announcements than the one before. I remember how afterwards, everyone would argue about who had "won" that year.
Man, times have changed. Or, alternatively, how the mighty have fallen. E3 has lost every semblance of relevance imaginable. I can't really come up with any new game announcements, merely more info about stuff we already know about. It's become just an update to let everyone know what to expect this Christmas. And, well, I hate to be a spoilsport, but everyone already knows what to look forward to this Christmas. We've known pretty much since the end of last Christmas. You can't surprise us there.
Possibly even more depressing was the fact that I'm being forced to realize that neither Sony nor Microsoft nor Nintendo care about me at all. I listen to their press conferences and all they tell me is why I should stop caring about them. I mean, can't they pretend that interesting, narrative-based single player games are worth making and advertising anymore. It's weird because there's still plenty of games that fit into that genre that are coming out successfully, such as GTA 4 and MGS 4 and Assassin's Creed and Bioshock and Ninja Gaiden and Portal and Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime and Final Fantasy games and the list goes on. These games are all quite successful and they all fit into that description. But if you watch the press conferences, you'd think nobody cares about that at all.
The problem is this whole "social gaming" thing. Now, in my mind, there's two definitions of social gaming. Because I'm old, the first definition of social gaming is when you're hanging out with people playing video games. You know, split screen multiplayer and stuff like that. This is social because you're hanging out with friends and playing a game. Oftentimes, drinking is involved. See, they will pretty much never be able to announce another social game that I care about because Rock Band is the greatest game in this genre ever made. And, because Harmonix is constantly adding content, it is almost guaranteed to remain that way. Every other game will be just a distraction before my friends and I get back to playing Rock Band.
The other definition of social gaming is online multiplayer. Apparently, online multiplayer has become so popular that games are coming out that focus more or less entirely on this aspect. And, while I personally will never get into any of those, I don't inherently hate the fact that they exist or anything. The problem is that these have become the focus of most upcoming games.
I mean, Resident Evil 5, a survival-horror game, has an online co-op mode. What is the point of that at all? How does bringing a friend along improve the gameplay in that genre at all? Am I going to get more scared of the zombies when I have a friend helping me fight them? No, no I'm not. And, since they're not with me, we're not really going to share the communal feeling of fear that playing a survival horror game with an audience typically creates (which can be the most fun part of playing such a game). So, yeah, I'm guessing RE5 is no longer survival horror at all (number four was an action game, but it was a freaking scary action game).
Both Sony and Microsoft's biggest games this November/December are shooters. Gears of War 2 has a major focus on it's co-op mode and Resistance 2 has a major focus on multiplayer. I don't really care about either game (admittedly, I typically only allow myself one sci-fi shooter per year, maximum, and with Bioshock finally coming out for the PS3, I should be covered until most of the way through 2009 anyways...).
Bethesda is turning Fallout 3 into Elder Scrolls 5 with a nuclear wasteland background instead of a fantasy background. Oh, and the Elder Scrolls had already become basically a shooter in the trappings of an RPG. And really boring. That too.
It's weird to say this, but EA is pretty much my last good hope for gaming this holiday season. What with Spore, Dead Space, and Mirror's Edge, their line-up of games I can happily play alone is second to none. This is mind-boggling, by the way. To put it in perspective, up until this generation, I had never bought an EA branded game. I don't think. It wouldn't be very easy to really confirm that, but it's probably safe to say since I don't have any EA PS2 games, and before that I only bought Nintendo systems and EA didn't really get along with Nintendo that much anyway. So, yeah, the giant monolith where great games go to die is actually bringing more games that I care about than anyone else. How is that even possible?
I mean, I guess I'm curious about what Ubisoft is doing with the new Prince of Persia, but the videos definitely seem to be suggesting online co-op options (or, hopefully, the girl is just like the girl in numbers 1 and 3, which would be okay too). Otherwise, it feels like Ubisoft has given up on anything that doesn't start with Tom Clancy's name (oh yeah, and they've hinted at Beyond Good and Evil 2, I'll be looking forward to that for a long time as well).
Activision is too busy trying to become the next EA to make a game worth caring about (because I don't care about Call of Duty, being that it's a non-sci-fi shooter and all).
And, worst of all, freaking Square-Enix has basically abandoned the PS3. I mean, seriously, come on. Their bread and butter is making RPGs. From a pure controller design perspective, the PS3 is a way better platform for making RPGs (the reasoning being that it has a very nice, very usable D-pad in the most comfortable position, while the 360 relegates the D-pad to a more awkard position and it works like crap).
But, Microsoft desperately wants to not only steal market-share from Sony, but they want to keep it, so they must be spending tons of money convincing Square to make exclusive RPGs for the system. The idea being that if enough exclusive RPGs are made for the system, eventually RPG fans will be forced to buy the system and buy the RPGs and then the console will get the reputation of having a good catalog of RPGs (because then Japanese gamemakers will willingly make RPGs for the platform). But, it hasn't happened yet. Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey didn't exactly sell well, nor did Eternal Sonata for that matter.
But, now they've gotten Square on board and they're releasing the new Star Ocean game exclusively for the 360. This makes me very, very sad. I mean, this is Square we're talking about, and they do love money very much, so I imagine the PS3 version will be out in a year or so (with extra content, of course), but it's still frustrating. These are games I want to play, and Microsoft is just using their clout to stop me from playing them. Truly, it's a very personal offense.
Also, on a completely unrelated note, what exactly has Square been doing for the last two years in terms of working on Final Fantasy XIII? It's like we're watching the same CG video from two years ago. I mean, how long did it take to even make Advent Children? I bet it wasn't that much more than two years, and yet they haven't even been able to get around to cut a new trailer? Let alone, you know, come up with an even remotely playable version yet. I swear, we're not going to see that game for another two years (in Japan, and then 9 months later it'll come to the U.S.). That's just ridiculous.
So, yeah, that's E3. It's pretty much just an avenue for game company's to tell me the bad news directly. Sadness.
That is all.
Francis
Man, times have changed. Or, alternatively, how the mighty have fallen. E3 has lost every semblance of relevance imaginable. I can't really come up with any new game announcements, merely more info about stuff we already know about. It's become just an update to let everyone know what to expect this Christmas. And, well, I hate to be a spoilsport, but everyone already knows what to look forward to this Christmas. We've known pretty much since the end of last Christmas. You can't surprise us there.
Possibly even more depressing was the fact that I'm being forced to realize that neither Sony nor Microsoft nor Nintendo care about me at all. I listen to their press conferences and all they tell me is why I should stop caring about them. I mean, can't they pretend that interesting, narrative-based single player games are worth making and advertising anymore. It's weird because there's still plenty of games that fit into that genre that are coming out successfully, such as GTA 4 and MGS 4 and Assassin's Creed and Bioshock and Ninja Gaiden and Portal and Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime and Final Fantasy games and the list goes on. These games are all quite successful and they all fit into that description. But if you watch the press conferences, you'd think nobody cares about that at all.
The problem is this whole "social gaming" thing. Now, in my mind, there's two definitions of social gaming. Because I'm old, the first definition of social gaming is when you're hanging out with people playing video games. You know, split screen multiplayer and stuff like that. This is social because you're hanging out with friends and playing a game. Oftentimes, drinking is involved. See, they will pretty much never be able to announce another social game that I care about because Rock Band is the greatest game in this genre ever made. And, because Harmonix is constantly adding content, it is almost guaranteed to remain that way. Every other game will be just a distraction before my friends and I get back to playing Rock Band.
The other definition of social gaming is online multiplayer. Apparently, online multiplayer has become so popular that games are coming out that focus more or less entirely on this aspect. And, while I personally will never get into any of those, I don't inherently hate the fact that they exist or anything. The problem is that these have become the focus of most upcoming games.
I mean, Resident Evil 5, a survival-horror game, has an online co-op mode. What is the point of that at all? How does bringing a friend along improve the gameplay in that genre at all? Am I going to get more scared of the zombies when I have a friend helping me fight them? No, no I'm not. And, since they're not with me, we're not really going to share the communal feeling of fear that playing a survival horror game with an audience typically creates (which can be the most fun part of playing such a game). So, yeah, I'm guessing RE5 is no longer survival horror at all (number four was an action game, but it was a freaking scary action game).
Both Sony and Microsoft's biggest games this November/December are shooters. Gears of War 2 has a major focus on it's co-op mode and Resistance 2 has a major focus on multiplayer. I don't really care about either game (admittedly, I typically only allow myself one sci-fi shooter per year, maximum, and with Bioshock finally coming out for the PS3, I should be covered until most of the way through 2009 anyways...).
Bethesda is turning Fallout 3 into Elder Scrolls 5 with a nuclear wasteland background instead of a fantasy background. Oh, and the Elder Scrolls had already become basically a shooter in the trappings of an RPG. And really boring. That too.
It's weird to say this, but EA is pretty much my last good hope for gaming this holiday season. What with Spore, Dead Space, and Mirror's Edge, their line-up of games I can happily play alone is second to none. This is mind-boggling, by the way. To put it in perspective, up until this generation, I had never bought an EA branded game. I don't think. It wouldn't be very easy to really confirm that, but it's probably safe to say since I don't have any EA PS2 games, and before that I only bought Nintendo systems and EA didn't really get along with Nintendo that much anyway. So, yeah, the giant monolith where great games go to die is actually bringing more games that I care about than anyone else. How is that even possible?
I mean, I guess I'm curious about what Ubisoft is doing with the new Prince of Persia, but the videos definitely seem to be suggesting online co-op options (or, hopefully, the girl is just like the girl in numbers 1 and 3, which would be okay too). Otherwise, it feels like Ubisoft has given up on anything that doesn't start with Tom Clancy's name (oh yeah, and they've hinted at Beyond Good and Evil 2, I'll be looking forward to that for a long time as well).
Activision is too busy trying to become the next EA to make a game worth caring about (because I don't care about Call of Duty, being that it's a non-sci-fi shooter and all).
And, worst of all, freaking Square-Enix has basically abandoned the PS3. I mean, seriously, come on. Their bread and butter is making RPGs. From a pure controller design perspective, the PS3 is a way better platform for making RPGs (the reasoning being that it has a very nice, very usable D-pad in the most comfortable position, while the 360 relegates the D-pad to a more awkard position and it works like crap).
But, Microsoft desperately wants to not only steal market-share from Sony, but they want to keep it, so they must be spending tons of money convincing Square to make exclusive RPGs for the system. The idea being that if enough exclusive RPGs are made for the system, eventually RPG fans will be forced to buy the system and buy the RPGs and then the console will get the reputation of having a good catalog of RPGs (because then Japanese gamemakers will willingly make RPGs for the platform). But, it hasn't happened yet. Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey didn't exactly sell well, nor did Eternal Sonata for that matter.
But, now they've gotten Square on board and they're releasing the new Star Ocean game exclusively for the 360. This makes me very, very sad. I mean, this is Square we're talking about, and they do love money very much, so I imagine the PS3 version will be out in a year or so (with extra content, of course), but it's still frustrating. These are games I want to play, and Microsoft is just using their clout to stop me from playing them. Truly, it's a very personal offense.
Also, on a completely unrelated note, what exactly has Square been doing for the last two years in terms of working on Final Fantasy XIII? It's like we're watching the same CG video from two years ago. I mean, how long did it take to even make Advent Children? I bet it wasn't that much more than two years, and yet they haven't even been able to get around to cut a new trailer? Let alone, you know, come up with an even remotely playable version yet. I swear, we're not going to see that game for another two years (in Japan, and then 9 months later it'll come to the U.S.). That's just ridiculous.
So, yeah, that's E3. It's pretty much just an avenue for game company's to tell me the bad news directly. Sadness.
That is all.
Francis
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